Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. Establishing Democracy: Venezuelan Grass Roots Political Participation in State Formation.

伊利诺伊大学博士生克里斯托弗·A·巴伦西亚将在亚历杭德罗·卢戈博士的指导下，研究基层政治参与在国家形成过程以及在创造和维护民主中的作用。这项关键的研究问题涉及：1)如何从基层组织及其参与者的角度来理解和体验国家和民主；2)种族、阶级和性别不平等是否会影响对基层组织的参与，从而影响国家的形成和民主的建立；3)什么样的社会关系将基层组织及其参与者与国家联系在一起。这项研究将在委内瑞拉进行，在经历了十年的激进政治变革后，这是对这些更一般过程的有用的案例研究。通过实地调查方法，如参与者观察和结构化和半结构化访谈，巴伦西亚将在加拉加斯西南部的两个教区和周围定居点进行民族志研究。将特别关注认同1998年后政治运动的社会、政治、经济和文化组织的参与者的观点。将进一步关注政府支持者、地方和地区政府官员以及反对派之间的互动和差异化关系。最后，将访问地方和地区政府官员和反对派团体，就他们对新政府政策的解读和他们自己的政治实践进行访谈。这项研究有助于从理论和经验上理解国家、社会运动和民主之间的关系。它响应了社会科学内部的呼吁，即通过观察自下而上和自上而下的国家形成过程和建立民主来扩大对政治参与的理解。

University of Illinois PhD candidate, Christopher A. Valencia, with guidance from Dr. Alejandro Lugo, will undertake research on the role of grass-roots political participation in processes of state formation and in creating and maintaining democracy. This key research questions concern: 1) how the state and democracy are understood and experienced from the vantage point of grass-roots organizations and their participants; 2) if race, class, and gender inequalities affect participation in grass-roots organizations and thus state formation and establishing democracy; and, 3) what kinds of social relations link grass-roots organizations and their participants to the state.The research will be conducted in Venezuela, which, after a decade of radical political change, is a useful case study of these more general processes. Through fieldwork methods such as participant-observation and structured and semi-structured interviews, Valencia will conduct ethnographic research in two southwest Caracas parishes and surrounding settlements. Special attention will be paid to the perspectives of participants in social, political, economic, and cultural organizations that identify with post-1998 politcal movements. Additional attention will be given to the interactions and differentiated relationships between government supporters, local and regional government officials, and opposition groups. Finally, local and regional government officials and opposition groups will be interviewed regarding their interpretations of the new government policies and their own political practices.This research contributes theoretically and empirically to understandings of the relationship between the state, social movements, and democracy. It responds to appeals made within the social sciences to broaden understandings of political participation through the observation of both bottom-up and top-down processes of state formation and in establishing democracy.